Counting Up

Moving step by step towards Shavuot.

Real change -- altering our bad personality traits, moving away from self destructive behaviors and developing good spiritual habits -- takes time. It is because of this recognition that we do not leap from Passover – leaving Egypt, to Shavuot -- receiving the Torah. Instead we move, step by step, day by day, towards our goal.

From the second night of Passover, Jews begin counting the 49 days of the Omer. Unlike most "counts," like a countdown at Cape Canaveral or the radio countdown on the Top 40, we count up. This is because we're interested not just in the event at the end of the countdown -- celebrating our receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai -- but also in the counting itself.

The 49 days of the Omer are like 49 rungs of a ladder -- small, incremental steps towards a critical goal. This step-by-step motion moved our ancestors away from the slave mentalities that had been forced into them from 200 years of slavery in Egypt. Our ancestors internalized the voices of their oppressors and in many ways forgot what it was like to live lives full of choice and hope. As slaves, man's defining attribute of free will was denied to us.

After our awe-inspiring departure from Egypt, the Creator had us spend 49 days moving each day a little further away from the lives of drones to full-fledged, autonomous individuals who could make their own choices. Each day counted brought us closer to being truly free, not just physically (as we were the moment the Egyptian army was drowned beneath the waves), but spiritually and intellectually. When the Jewish people counted out seven weeks after the exodus from the land of Egpyt, known in Hebrew as Mitzryaim or "narrowness," we were able to divorce ourselves from our old lifestyles and embrace our choice of the Torah.

Real change takes time and determination.

Neither we nor our ancestors are like Superman, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. We could not leave behind the lifestyle and consciousness of a hedonistic society like Egypt overnight. Real change takes time and determination.

Today everything is instant access. Most of us have instant access to our email through Blackberries, instant access to our bank accounts through ATMs, and instant gratification through microwaves and single-packaged junk food. We expect immediate results when we begin a diet. But lasting change requires moving up the ladder slowly, altering our behaviors in incremental ways, one step at a time. Even the highest mountain is scaled one step a time.

What we can we do practically to change ourselves and prepare not just for Shavuot, but for life in general? First, we can resolve to try – even just for five minutes a day -- to improve ourselves in some way. Maybe we need to go beyond our Sunday school level of Hebrew; we can start spending five minutes each day with a tutor or friend learning through the Hebrew aleph-bet. Perhaps we're interested in becoming more kind; we could spend a few minutes bringing food to a shut-in, or visit a sick person in the hospital, or help someone by carrying their groceries. It could be that we want to better understand the ancient wisdom of the Torah. So take five minutes of your lunch time to read about the weekly Torah portion online.

When tackling our big goals -- being in better control of our tempers, or not complaining -- break those enormous tasks into smaller ones. Move towards those spiritual goals in increments, not tremendous leaps.

May all of us reach the top of our personal and national mountains at Shavuot through small, steady steps towards the Torah.

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About the Author

Rabbi Dr. Daniel P. Aldrich received his semicha from Rav Dan Channen, shlita and he is a alumnus of the Darche Noam Yeshiva of Jerusalem. After his house was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina, he and his family spent a year living in East Asia. He currently lives with his family in West Lafayette, Indiana where he and his wife Yael work to spread the love of Torah among Purdue University students and the community.

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 1

(1)
Josh (Indiana),
May 24, 2009 4:57 PM

May we have the discipline, courage, and confidence

Thank you Rabbi for the thought provoking article,
Let us differentiate between instant success A and instant success B, where A is detrimental and B is a necessary condition for success. It is the will of our Creator to bestow the freedom of choice unto us, as we so vividly remember on Shavuot.
A is instant success as an end. In this view we do no more than hope for a miracle or overvalue a physical pleasure. B is instant success as a means, a small step towards something larger.
Short term goals are a variation of instant success B. As you have mentioned in your article, short term goals are a good (and maybe a necessary) practice, “to move… in increments, not tremendous leaps.” B- type instant success is the stimulus for growth and change and progress towards long term goals.
May we all have the discipline, courage, and confidence to live a focused and short-term goal-driven life, where our instant success is viewed as a means and not an end. And may we continue this practice long after 49 days have passed. Without a lifetime of small steps we will not make of the torah as our Creator intended.

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Since honey is produced by bees, and bees are not a kosher species, how can honey be kosher?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

The Talmud (Bechoros 7b) asks your very question! The Talmud bases this question on the principle that “whatever comes from a non-kosher species is non-kosher, and that which comes from something kosher is kosher.”

So why is bee-honey kosher? Because even though bees bring the nectar into their bodies, the resultant honey is not a 'product' of their bodies. It is stored and broken down in their bodies, but not produced there. (see Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 81:8)

By the way, the Torah (in several places such as Exodus 13:5) praises the Land of Israel as "flowing with milk and honey." But it may surprise you to know that the honey mentioned in the verse is actually referring to date and fig honey (see Rashi there)!

In 1809, a group of 70 disciples of the great Lithuanian sage the Vilna Gaon, arrived in Israel, after traveling via Turkey by horse and wagon. The Vilna Gaon set out for the Holy Land in 1783, but for unknown reasons did not attain his goal. However he inspired his disciples to make the move, and they became pioneers of modern settlement in Israel. (A large contingent of chassidic Jews arrived in Tzfat around the same time.) The leader of the 1809 group, Rabbi Israel of Shklov, settled in Tzfat, and six years later moved to Jerusalem where he founded the modern Ashkenazic community. The early years were fraught with Arab attacks, earthquakes, and a cholera epidemic. Rabbi Israel authored, Pe'at Hashulchan, a digest of the Jewish agricultural laws relating to the Land of Israel. (He had to rewrite the book after the first manuscript was destroyed in a fire.) The location of his grave remained unknown until it was discovered in Tiberias, 125 years after his death. Today, the descendants of that original group are amongst the most prominent families in Jerusalem.

When you experience joy, you feel good because your magnificent brain produces hormones called endorphins. These self-produced chemicals give you happy and joyful feelings.

Research on these biochemicals has proven that the brain-produced hormones enter your blood stream even if you just act joyful, not only when you really are happy. Although the joyful experience is totally imaginary and you know that it didn’t actually happen, when you speak and act as if that imaginary experience did happen, you get a dose of endorphins.

These chemicals are naturally produced by your brain. They are totally free and entirely healthy.

Many people find that this knowledge inspires them to create more joyful moments. It’s not just an abstract idea, but a physical reality.

Occasionally, when I walk into an office, the receptionist greets me rudely. Granted, I came to see someone else, and a receptionist's disposition is immaterial to me. Yet, an unpleasant reception may cast a pall.

A smile costs nothing. Greeting someone with a smile even when one does not feel like smiling is not duplicity. It is simply providing a pleasant atmosphere, such as we might do with flowers or attractive pictures.

As a rule, "How are you?" is not a question to which we expect an answer. However, when someone with whom I have some kind of relationship poses this question, I may respond, "Not all that great. Would you like to listen?" We may then spend a few minutes, in which I unburden myself and invariably begin to feel better. This favor is usually reciprocated, and we are both thus beneficiaries of free psychotherapy.

This, too, complies with the Talmudic requirement to greet a person in a pleasant manner. An exchange of feelings that can alleviate someone's emotional stress is even more pleasant than an exchange of smiles.

It takes so little effort to be a real mentsch.

Today I shall...

try to greet everyone in a pleasant manner, and where appropriate offer a listening ear.

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